PRE-SEASON MEET — We want to thank everyone for being at the team picture and pre-season meet. In Level 2, 3 and 4 we had perfect attendance! That’s the first time ever that everyone from those levels attended the pre-season meet. In all, only 11 gymnasts weren’t at the team photo, by far and away our best turnout. Thank you to everyone who was in attendance!

MEET FEES — Thank you to everyone who has paid their compulsory level meet fees. The final installment was run on Aug. 30 for those who hadn’t already paid. If your charge didn’t go through, you should have received an e-mail stating as such, so please pay those promptly.

Boys’, Girls’ Optional and Xcel have meet fees due starting in September, payable in four installments.

The following are the meet fees and installments and updated schedules as there have been some changes (due to conflicts and meet fee costs):

Note that regionals is not included for any boys’, girls’ or Xcel level.

COMPETITION SEASON REMINDERS — This is the transcript of the information that was given out over the PA system after last Friday’s mock meet.

At the Meet: Be on time. Early is always better (however, for the benefit of meet organizers, try not to show up any earlier than 7:30 a.m. for an 8 a.m. session)! Have hair and make up already done (there are bows available for purchase in the front lobby). Be prepared with a bag for warm-ups, shoes, closed water bottles, & grips, etc.

Please remember that parents should be cheering for all Wildcard team members. Please have appropriate conversations in the stands. Speak positively about judges, coaches, other teams, and members of own team. (You never know who is listening!)

At a competition, parents and gymnasts are representing Wildcard so please be respectful and be a role model.

Sit with other Wildcard families and dress in team colors. You don’t have to wear Wildcard apparel, but let’s have some purple power!

Please understand that gymnasts are not allowed to go to their parents during the meet. Parents may not enter the competition area for any reason.

Gymnasts need to be cheering for their teammates and watching the competition. It’s okay to have a little fun with your teammates but remember that everyone has a different way to focus during a meet. While some kids might need to release a little nervous energy, others need a little quiet time to prepare.

After the Meet / At Awards: Never approach the judges!

Please stay for everyone’s awards.

Please don’t correct the PA announcer if your child’s name is mispronounced. The announcer is doing his/her best and are often volunteers. It can be very nerve wracking to try to read all of the awards while having people yell at you. So to keep the awards moving, please just accept the occasional mispronunciation. We do our best to let the announcers know how to pronounce each gymnast’s name ahead of time.

Remember that our competition is against gymnasts from other clubs, not with our own teammates. So if one of Wildcard’s gymnasts takes 1st and another takes 2nd, be happy for both gymnasts’ accomplishments and not be mad that your kid didn’t take first. In an ideal world, 1st, 2nd and 3rd would be populated by Wildcard kids.

If possible, please stay for someone’s session if she is by herself. Next time, it could be your child by herself at a meet. It’s nice to know teammates are there cheering. Also, it is very unlikely that teammates not competing will be allowed on the gym floor with competing teammates, but the lone individual will know that she is supported (and we will make certain of it).

Remember find something positive to say your child and leave corrections to the coaches. Your job as a parent is to be supportive and champion their accomplishments. Make them feel special no matter what!

Other Important Points: Please know that we try to get everyone’s scores on Facebook almost immediately. There will be mistakes. Sometimes we read a score wrong. Sometimes we add wrong. We are trying to do this quickly. Also, we try to get the more accurate scores on the blog/website and success wall right away. Most of the time we are doing this late at night after a long weekend of competition, often without official results from the host club. Sometimes we make a mistake or accidentally forget someone. It’s not intentional or a big deal. We always acknowledge them during our Monday meet debrief.

If you have questions or concerns, please consider the “24 hour rule” with both your gymnast and coaches. Sometimes 24 hours gives you time to find out the answer, calm down, or think of a better way to approach a difficult situation. We don’t adhere to a strict 24 hour rule, but understand that the coaches are parents too. The coaches want to have time to talk to their kids as parents as well.

If possible, out of courtesy please give advance notice if you aren’t attending a meet. Also, please understand that there are no refunds for missed meets. (Severe injury is an exception.)

Please note: It is a team rule that you must attend your scheduled practice before the day of a competition. This is to be certain that your child is mentally prepared, focused, and physically ready. We have the right to not allow your child to compete.

Please do not expect your child to be on the medal stand if they aren’t coming to their specific level’s practices. Missed practices are definitely reflected in the scores or performances.

It is imperative that your gymnast attend her correct practice in order to be properly prepared. As we mentioned on the blog, with close to 100 kids on team, we don’t have the ability to accommodate makeups for every kid who misses (every gymnast missed at least one practice this summer).

We do not get meet schedules usually until 2 weeks in advance. Please do not call the host gym or ask our coaches if they know when your child competes. We post the schedule the minute that we have it. Also, we can not change the day your child competes, the session, or the award divisions. That is all determined by the meet director.

WARM-UPS FOR XCEL — Xcel gymnasts should place their order for warm-up jackets by the end of September. Warm-ups are $95 for the jacket only. Xcel only needs to purchase the jacket. Pants are optional for the Xcel gymnasts. On the order form, there is no size information. We will size the gymnasts.

Xcel bronze, silver and gold should purchase the compulsory warm-ups. Xcel platinum and diamond should purchase the optional warm-ups.

Also, if your Xcel gymnast has not purchased a leotard or ordered one, please do that by the end of September as well.

PASTA FUNDRAISER — By now most of the team gymnasts have received their pasta fundraiser envelope. We are once again partnering with Fun Pasta to raise money for new equipment at Wildcard. Please understand that unlike other gymnastics clubs, Wildcard does not have a Booster Club, we do not charge you extra for coaching fees at meet, we do not assess an annual registration fee, and we go out of our way to try to keep your tuition costs low. Fundraising is a way to bring in extra money to be able to replace worn out equipment, send coaches to training, offer additional practice times in the summer, etc. Please help support Wildcard by participating in the fundraiser.

These items make fantastic gifts items for the holidays. We do expect that everyone is participating in the fundraiser in some way. If you prefer to just make a donation, you are welcome to do so for $150. Brochure Pasta orders are due to Wildcard by October 8th and we expect them to be delivered by October 15th. If you have friends or family place an online order, those will be shipped almost immediately at the time of order. While we don’t receive as much of a profit from the online orders, it is a convenient way to reach out-of-state family.

PRACTICE TIMES — We are having a huge issue with kids coming late (or not coming at all) to their scheduled practice times, particularly in the Optional groups. This is making it really difficult to manage group sizes as we don’t know how many kids will be showing up late. (For example, one night we combined two groups because at the start of practice there were only 7 total kids. By the end of the night 5 more had trickled in. Now we have a group of 12 that could have been split and gotten more individual attention.) We want to continue to allow the gymnasts the opportunity to participate in school activities but we need them to arrive promptly so that the groups can be coached appropriately. Please remember that the practice times are designed to benefit the gymnasts. If you are missing practice, it’s hard to get prepared for competition season. If you are taking full advantage of the practice hours we provide, the competitive season will yield success.